This invention relates to means for forming an alignment of longitudinally spaced short slits in a sheet or ribbon of fresh pasta, simultaneously the pasta dough on one side of each slit being pushed above the plane of the pasta ribbon and the pasta dough on the opposite side of the same slit being pushed below the plane of the pasta ribbon. The invention also relates to a novel form of pasta featuring an alignment of longitudinally spaced short slits with a ripple or sinusoidal formation of the pasta on one side of the slits and similar sinusoidal formation of the pasta on the opposite side of the slits, the peaks of one sinusoidal formation being midway between the peaks of the other sinusoidal formation.
As is well known, lasagna is a popular type of pasta in the form of flat, rectangular strips. It is sold in either the completely flat form or the flat form with curly or rippled longitudinal edges. In either form, after the pasta strips have been cooked in boiling water, they are laid in a baking pan as a layer covering the bottom thereof. Tomato sauce is spread as a coating on that layer and ricotta and other cheese is sprinkled on the sauce coating. Another layer of cooked lasagna strips is laid on the coated layer and the application of tomato sauce and cheese on the new layer is repeated. This procedure is continued to build up four or five layers or even more with intervening coatings of tomato sauce and cheese. The baking pan containing the multiple layers of lasagna strips is ready for baking prior to the time when it is to be served.
During baking, care must be taken to prevent the top and bottom lasagna layers from being overbaked or burned while the intermediate layers remain insufficiently baked because of the poor penetration of heat through the stacked layers. Another baking problem is the tendency for steam generated within the stacked layers to accumulate in pockets which separate the layers and deform the lasagna stack. Thus, two difficulties: uneven baking and steam puffing of the lasagna stack can be encountered during the baking.
The baked lasagna is ideally served by cutting through the stacked layers to provide individual portions in the form of cubes or parallelepipeds. Because of the oily tomato sauce between the lasagna layers, often the layers of the individual portion will slide relative to one another so that the desired cube or like portion collapses on the dish as an unattractive heap of random lasagna pieces.
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide an improved form of lasagna-type pasta which overcomes the difficulties often encountered in baking multiple layers of the pasta and in cutting individual portions of the baked multi-layered product.
Another important object is to provide simple means for transforming a flat sheet or ribbon of fresh pasta into the improved lasagna-type pasta.
Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description which follows.